New Era, New Attitude

If we had staked flags wherever our efforts helped make communities better, their fluttering would be heard across the state — along Great Lakes shorelines now protected from oil and gas drilling, in farm fields saved from wasteful new highways, in town centers made more economically competitive by new state policies, along untamed rivers secured from haphazard development, and in neighborhoods embracing Smart Growth.

A year ago we reached a startling conclusion: With most of our original projects completed, and with a Smart Growth champion as our new governor, the Institute had entered a new era.

We started asking questions: How should we respond to this fortunate circumstance and accelerate Smart Growth in Michigan? What new projects could best harness the entrepreneurial spirit and outside-the-box creativity that have been our hallmarks since Keith Schneider founded the Institute in 1995?

Working hard together, the board and staff produced an exciting answer: A five-year strategic plan that strengthens our Lansing and Detroit presence; more strongly influences state transportation, agriculture, economic, environmental, and urban policy; and implements those policies at the grassroots in northwest Michigan, our home region.